It's a Sad Day For Former Giant

Nokia's mobile phone operations have finally been officially transferred to Microsoft, ending a legacy for the mobile phone giant that saw it go from market leader to market obscurity. 

At Nokia’s former headquarters outside Helsinki, a crane was on standby to remove the Nokia sign, under which a large blue and white banner read “Nokia moving on”.

Nokia’s former chief executive Stephen Elop will transfer BACK to Microsoft where he will oversee Microsoft’s hardware business ranging from mobile devices to Xbox video game consoles. Microsoft will continue to honour all existing Nokia customer warranties.

In addition to Mr. Elop, some 25,000 former Nokia employees will join Microsoft. Microsoft will use this acquisition to improve its chances in the mobile-phone business, to have one more roll of the dice against Apple, Google and Samsung.

So what's left of Nokia? A mobile network arm and a digital mapping platform, one of the mobile industry’s largest portfolios of patents and a large pile of cash. Nokia is expected to announce its new strategic direction, plans for its cash management and name its next CEO next week in conjunction with its earnings report due on Tuesday.

Whatsapp Nokia - Going from Last to First

Nokia has turned an achilles heel into a stepping stone as they embrace an app that contributed to their downfall in the last few years. Whatsapp was one of the reasons why I finally changed my phone over for the first time to Android as there no plans for the app to be supported by the Nokia N9 that I was using at the time.

The Nokia Asha 210 has just been announced by Nokia which will look a lot like the old school Nokia E72 and Nokia E63 with a similar physical keypad layout but there will be one interesting addition. One of the keys will be dedicated to take you straight to Whatsapp, making it the first device in the world to feature a dedicated physical button for Whatsapp

The other new features in the Asha 210 are not really worth raging on about. I just thought it was interesting to see how one little app can receive such an endorsement as Whatsapp has achieved in the Asha 210.

Lumia 920 - Why it's different

Stephen Elop has recently took the stage to announce to the world that Nokia is here to cause "future disruptions" in the mobile phone market. Nokia's final swing in their fight for survival has been announced. The Lumia 920 will have a PureView camera with PureMotion HD+ and the ability to recharge the phone wirelessly. PureMotion HD+ will enhance the clear black display technology with sensors that adjust screen brightness and tone in response to the sun glare.

Location services and apps such as the augmented reality City Lens, will be part of the Nokia innovation that hopes to make some inroad on what is increasingly becoming the Android / iPhone duopoly. The battery will be a 2000mAh battery and a processor that will use the battery more efficiently. The battery has the ability to recharge wirelessly which is a first in the mobile phone technology race. Nokia is also working with various establishments to provide wireless charging stations for users in what may be a sign of things to come in the future.

The Windows 8 operating system will enable the live tiles to be resized, so that you can know more of what is going on in one glance. As the world starts to adopt Windows 8 on their computers, the natural decision would be to switch to the same operating system for their phones.

The ability to take a screenshot was demonstrated by Microsoft's Joe Belfiore and posted to twitter during the live webcast. There  you have the first ever tweeted screenshot from a Windows Phone 8 device.

The camera will also enable you to take a photo and then from the click of the camera shutter, upload the photo to the Skydrive and modify the photo whilst the photo is taken. The various "lenses" will help users do more with the camera then ever before.

From the design perspective, the Lumia 920 will showcase the latest in their polycarbonate casing, a stronger glass and the fastest and brightest LCD screen on a mobile phone with a WXGA display. The phone also has "super sensitive touch" which will help you to use the phone even whilst using your phone with gloves or mits! There's something you can't do with other phones on the market!

The technology built in the Lumia 920 camera is simply scary! The optical image stabilisation technology as well as a sensor that brings in more light than ever before in a camera phone. Something we can't really show you here because it probably has to be experienced to believe. There was just so much in the announcement that we can't cover here but suffice to say, the Nokia Lumia 920 has me very interested! It is something I haven't said about a Nokia phone for quite a while. Truth be told I am now using a Samsung Galaxy Nexus and a Nexus 7 tablet after using Nokia phones all my life.

After such a short time away, is it time to change back?

Nokia to Announce WP8 phones

We are only days away from an announcement from Nokia about their new Windows Phone 8 devices. There is great anticipation and Samsung has noticed this. Fresh out of having their pants sued off by Apple, Samsung has beaten Nokia to the starting line, announcing that the ATIV S will be their first Windows Phone 8 device. Keep an eye out... Nokia is set to make a comeback behind Windows Phone 8.

Nokia E72 v iPhone4S Cameras

Clint has offered to share a quick pic comparison between the Nokia E72 and the iPhone 4S. Yes, how dare they? Check out the two photos below and head over to Clint's blog for his thoughts. For a closer look, just click on the photo to get it enlarged.  


Nokia E72



iPhone 4s

Clearly the cameras both made slightly different exposure decisions. None were adjusted or biased by settings. Personally I think that the Nokia did a better job of getting in the entire scene without blow-outs of the whites. That's just my thoughts though. Also it would seem that the angle of view of the iPhone is a bit wider than that of the Nokia. So this would give the Nokia a slight advantage in needing to squeeze in less image onto the same pixels ...


Now, at 100% pixel view ..

Nokia E72
iPhone 4s


What do you think? 

Tweets are Louder than Rings

I mentioned in a previous post that we had some problems with Vodafone setting up MyVodafone access and being unable to check our available call credit under the cap plan. After more than 5 calls to Vodafone, we managed to get it resolved.

I tweeted the @VodafoneAu_Help staff and within a few days, they were able to resolve the issue very quickly. They found that there was already a record of the phone number in the MyVodafone database and just deleted that, and the registration worked after that. Maybe you can suggest this to the call centre staff if you are experiencing the same problem

So why ring when you can tweet?

Problems Moving from Three to Vodafone

Two months ago, my wife moved her Three account to Vodafone, as the area we are living in seems to have poor Three coverage. She was told by a Vodafone representative on the phone that the coverage in our area would be better under Vodafone and that it would not cost us anything to switch over since the two companies are now effectively one company.

So the phone was switched over without too much drama. However, after switching over, she registered for MyVodafone which is the online account management tool. As soon as she pressed REGISTER, this appeared:

So we called Vodafone and they said to wait a few days to try it again. Same problem occurred and we called them again. Same advice, same outcome and we called them again. This time they said they have escalated it for the engineers to check it out and will contact us in a week's time. No call came for the next two weeks. Last night, we spoke to them again. They said that they have some technical problems with people migrating over from Three. They are looking into this issue but have no idea if/when it will be resolved. Currently users could be experiencing the following issues if they migrated from Three -

1. They cannot register for MyVodafone
2. They cannot check available credit by dialling1512 

In other words, we are flying blind on our phone cap. What annoyed me the most was that they had "closed" two of the issues that we raised in previous conversations last month without resolving or informing us. That there is what you call bad customer service! I thought I would post this up so that other users who may have migrated from Three to Vodafone will know what may also be going on with their accounts as well. 

Are you one of them? 

Google on N8 vs N9 vs E72

It may not be the newest phone, but I have recently come to conclude that when it comes to Nokia phones, Google loves the Nokia E72 the most. The compatibility of the Nokia E72 with many of Google's products has been even more demonstrated recently by the release of Nokia's new Meego powered N9 which looks every bit like an iphone-killer but with one achilles heel, it's incompatibility with Google. Here are a couple of examples.

Google Maps - Forget iphone 4s siri for a second and realise that Google Maps had awesome voice recognition capabilities which the E72 lovingly embraces. Google made it that you need to hold down the CALL button  to activate voice search of its Google Maps. As a result, since the Nokia N8 has no call button, there is no voice search on the N8. For the Nokia N9 you cannot even download it! Forget using a web based version either as this does not work on the N9 as well.

Google Search - Voice search of anything you want is also available on the E72 on Google's search application. Once again, the Nokia N8 and N9 do not have a call button and therefore the voice search does not work on those phones. Not sure if anyone has created a workaround?

Gmail - Symbian has an app that you can download which runs Gmail. It checks your email every 15 minutes or so and the phone vibrates when there is new mail. You can run multiple gmail accounts and switch between them seamlessly. The only limitation is in opening attachments. The Nokia N8 and E72 have that app available. The N9 does not.


Google Documents - For some reason the Nokia N9 cannot use Google docs spreadsheets in mobile mode. When you finally figure out how to switch to desktop mode, you can load up a spreadsheet but it is nigh impossible to update the cells. For whatever reason, as soon as you select a text field, the phone scrolls to some other part of the spreadsheet where you can't see what you are typing. However on the E72, whilst it is quite painful to click edit on every line that you want to modify, at least Google docs works to some extent.

So even if you feel a little left out as your friends show off their awesome camera capabilities on the N8 and brag about the smoothness of their N9 operating system, one thing you still have is Google's love.

Its a Handsfree, not Headphones!

Have you had the frustration of plugging your handsfree into your mobile, in my case the E72 and having the options of Headphones, lineout or music stand appear? After looking at it with a puzzled face, you choose headphones and the phone says that you need to use the phone microphone even though you plugged in a handsfree, not earphones.

This problem puzzled me for quite a while, then I came up with a brilliant hack. Check the plug to see if there is something affecting the handsfree's connection to the phone. Sure enough, almost unnoticeable, deep inside the hole sat a tiny piece of tissue / cotton that could only be reached with a bent-out-of-shape paper clip.

So if you phone no longer allows handsfree connections, it could be just as simple as doing a little digging in your earphones port.

Finally - Google Docs Spreadsheets on E72

It seems that the Nokia E72 is once again able to use Google Documents. Following our recent post below, some changes to the Google Docs page rendered Docs inaccessible for Nokia users. Now, access has been reinstated and the world is turning once again. Here is our previous post, where we first announced Google Documents being finally available on Nokia phones.

You won't see a press release on this but very recently, Google Docs has been modified to allow S60 devices such as our beloved Nokia E72 to edit Google Docs spreadsheets. Before, the only way you could edit your spreadsheets was to use Opera but now, Nokia's built-in browser allows you to click on the cell and edit it. Before this change, the Nokia browser would only allow you to see one column at a time, which is clearly a ridiculous situation. So, am I the only person in the world feeling like his birthday came early?

Pros and Cons of the Nokia E6

For the past two weeks I have replaced my Nokia E72 with the E6 to see how it would fare as an upgrade option for those currently using a Nokia E series phone such as the E72, E71 or E63. The biggest change in the E6 is obviously the addition of the touch screen to what is pretty much the E72 in an upgraded case and a downgraded camera.

The Long and Short of it

The E6 is slightly faster than previous E series phones but the phone's display is distinctly more vibrant compared to the Nokia E72. Holding the two phones in my hands, the E6 is slightly thicker and heavier than the E72 but the length and height of each device are pretty similar. The batteries are identical and the CPU is only marginally quicker in the E6. 

The Touch Revolution hits E Series

I found that having the E6 touch screen made navigation of websites and filling in forms much easier as it was easier to tap the fields that I needed to edit and use my finger to scroll through a website. However, the touch screen does take some getting used to as it is easy to accidentally launch things or call people by holding on to your phone. 

I think that the Nokia experiment to mix the QWERTY with a touch screen was largely a success however I think with some parts of the phone requiring touching and others pressing (for example the Home, Message, Calendar and Address Book buttons) had me a little confused at times but nothing one could not get used to. I wouldn't give away the buttons as the two-step shortcuts that they provide are a lifehacker's dream of quick multitasking. 

Tapping and holding reveals various context menus when running the E6. For example, in the browser, you can tap and hold down a link and the options will appear for you to COPY or OPEN IN NEW WINDOW. 

Proximity sensors  

The proximity sensor for the phone helps the touch screen to disable when you put the phone next to your ear but I have found in various instances that I accidentally muted the call or put someone on hold by putting the phone to my ear. The hardware is quite similar to the E72 but the lock slider definitely helps quick locking of the phone.

Noise cancellation
When you are using the phone without a headset or loudspeaker, the phone utilizes a noise cancelling feature that helps the person on the other end hear you even when you are in a noisy environment. Also, although I find it not that much of a practical feature, the phone has a forward facing camera which allows you to make video calls. 

What about Anna?

I think the E6 hasn't yet been polished up enough to show the true possibilities that Symbian Anna is capable of unleashing so I will reserve judgment about the operating system suffice to say that there is still much to be done to differentiate from earlier Symbian versions. 

Pinch and Zoom

The thrill of pinching and zooming was quickly shortlived when I discovered that the in built browser does not allow you to pinch and zoom but other software like Nokia Maps had no problems with this feature.  

The Software Package

It was great to see Joikuspot making it into the E6 to accompany the office lifesaver QuickOffice and Microsoft Communicator as stock standard offerings with the E6. 

E6 - what its missing 

HDMI - Ever since the E7 and the Nokia N8 teased us with the HDMI connectivity, it's been hard to look at new devices that do not have this feature. One may think it is gimmicky but it sure is an impressive functionality missing in the E6 which could stop the laughter in the boardroom when you run a powerpoint from your phone. 

USB ON THE GO - Again, blame the N8 for showing us that it is possible to connect your USB full of goodies to your phone before you get home. Whilst the E6 CAN support USB on the go, the required cable to do so is not included with the phone. Why save a few bucks, Nokia? Just include it!

CAMERA - We want to hammer this one home because in such a crucial time as this, Nokia ought to be throwing all their hardware muscle into every device that they release and so the E6 is not forgiven for downgrading from the autofocus camera that the E72 had. 

MULTISCANNER - By implication the phone is also missing the scanner feature that the E72 boasted against all other competitors. 

Well there is another look at the E6 from our perspective. Hope you found this useful. Comments and complaints below.

Google Docs kills off Nokia Smartphone Access

A recent update by Google to Google Docs seems to have left Nokia disconnected. Nokia phones are unable to use Google Docs which means millions of users around the world are unable to edit and view documents on their Nokia phone that have been uploaded to Google Docs.

Google Docs not working on the E6, just hangs on this screen

I have been wondering whether this is a problem with Google or with Nokia. Surely, you would think that Nokia would have a group of developers who are in charge of responding to changes in the market that can ultimately leave Nokia phones ineffective or redundant. This latest change by Google seems to be consistent with changes to Google Maps which has been further developed with features only accessible by Android and iOS systems.

Same problem on the E72

Another device, another language, Google docs not working on E72

What amazes me is the lack of reaction that these changes generate within the Nokia camp. With the recent talk of Nokia needing to stay relevant to the market and the change in direction and CEO, I personally hope that Nokia keeps more abreast of changes than it has in the past. The market has moved on but will it be time for even Nokia supporters to do the same?

What would an E72 user think of E6?

We finally have the chance to play with the Nokia E6 and after a day with it, let's have a look at some first thoughts from a Nokia E72 user. I vaguely recall a time when I started playing with the Nokia N8 wondering what a Nokia E72 would be like with a touch screen and that is exactly what we have in the Nokia E6. Looking very similar to the E72, apart from its E5 face, the E6 brings Symbian Anna to the only E series. I have to say it really didn't make that much of a difference apart from bringing in a new web browser.

The E6 does not make too many innovative steps in the hardware apart from the touch screen, with the camera taking one step back from the E72 which has an auto-focus camera. There is a slider lock on the right hand side of the device which enables you to lock and unlock the phone and also hold down to activate the torch (but the torch doesn't work when you are in an application).

I haven't discovered too many new hidden features in the E6 that were not in the E72. Joikuspot Premium comes standard and so does the ever essential business tool QuickOffice and F-secure.

How does touch make life better? The web browser for whatever reason does not have pinch and zoom enabled, probably something that we should see in the future versions. Having a touch screen makes it easier to input information into web forms for example and to scroll through a website quickly. The battery type is the same as other earlier E series phones such as the E63, E71 and E72. Volume of both the E72 and E6 are very similar as well for speakerphone and ringtones. The keyboard is the same as well. More on the E72 and E6 later.

Symbian 3.2 Firmware Coming Soon!

With so many new phones coming out, it is easy for phone manufacturers to forget those that are still on "legacy" devices stuck in two year contracts. Not Nokia. They have just announced that Nokia E72 users can look forward to a firmware update including a new browser that will be the same as what will be launched with Symbian Anna. This will allow you to browse the web faster and hopefully improve on some memory errors as well. There has been no announcement as to when this update will be available so if you read this, take out your E72 and press *#0000# and under OPTIONS -> Check for update. Let us know when YOU get it.

Read this on your Nokia

Thanks to our friends in Google, this website is Nokia friendly so come and check it out on your mobile and maybe add a bookmark so you can read up on what's new for E72 fans when you're bored waiting for something or someone. That's all for now.. hopefully we will have a Nokia E6 to talk about soon so keep your eyes open!

While you're here, check out MyE63 or MyN8 websites as well for news about the Nokia E63 and Nokia N8. Or if you are interested in flashbacks, maybe head back to the blog that started it all My Nokia E65. Yeah, that's a lot of blogging. Hope it's helped you out :)

Vodafone Offers to Waive 9 Months of Contract

An interesting part of the Vodafone website has recently been found which offers people who have had their contract for 15 months or more, the opportunity to get a new Nokia phone with a new contract and waive the rest of the contract. Here are some details straight off the Vodafone site

 To say thanks for being a great customer, we'd like to offer you an early upgrade to any one of our new Nokia mobiles on any of our latest 24 month voice plans1. Simply choose any Nokia mobile on any current 24 month voice plan and we'll waive the remaining monthly commitment on your current mobile contract so you can start your new plan early. 

Available to all customers between months 15-23 of their current Vodafone Contract.
Offer ends 30 June 2011 unless extended.
To get this offer head in store or call 1300 301 464 today.

Data Roaming Warning When Changing Phones

Many of us are pretty cluey about how to avoid getting punished by the phone company for rogue data charges. In my case, I get slugged when my 3 connection goes roaming. Some of the things that I make sure on my phone phone is that I do not allow my phone to check emails when roaming. However, when you switch phones, it's easy to drop your guard. Your new touchscreen phone with widgets keep downloading updates from news sites that you will never read, using your internet connection whether or not you are roaming. So this is just a short post to remind everyone to watch their bills and be careful what your phone is doing behind your back.

So what inspired this post? Receiving my 3 phone bill after using a trial phone and discovering a little surprise in my roaming charges.

This one's for you E72 fans - Nokia E6

If you were following various blogs and websites, you would have heard yesterday of the announcement that Nokia is lining up the next E series phone that looks to replace your E72, with a touchscreen Symbian "Anna" version of your beloved phone.

It was only around two weeks ago, we posted our review of the Nokia E7. Some of the comments about how it is more of a two handed phone than what E72 users may be used to. As if to read our minds, the E6 offers everything that the E7 brings to the board room such as: 

USB to go - Allows you to read/edit anything on a thumb drive via your E72 sized device

TV-out - Projects your phone screen on to a TV screen, but I don't think it is HDMI

Joikuspot Premium - An essential app that enables internet sharing by using your phone as an internet hotspot

HD video recording - Filming professional videos of your conference/holiday from your phone. 

The difference? 

QWERTY - a real E72 keypad that you can't accidentally open apps or call people when you are juggling your phone with other things (this is one annoyance I found with complete touchscreen phones like E7 and N8).  

Symbian Anna - Newer version of the Symbian^3 with a new browser and faster/better/friendlier interface. In terms of home screens, you will get five, of which each allows you to vary the size and look of each icon. 

What do you lose? 

Autofocus camera - the 8MP camera is a full focus camera which from my limited experience with the E7 and C7, makes me wonder why we can't just move up to autofocus and forget full focus existed? However, I speak in ignorance having not tried the camera on the E6.. so watch this space. 

Scanner - We lamented this in our post about the E7, but here we go again. How many of you showed off to friends the feature of capturing a business card contacts using the multiscanner on the E72. Well, cherish those moments. 

As I said before on twitter, I am the kind of person who likes to type faster than one thinks, whilst others are the look-and-poke type phone operators. The touchscreens like the N8 and C7 are mostly for the latter and the E6 is for those that like to know where things are ahead of time. We'll talk more about this phone when we get a chance to play with one.

Nokia Ovi Suite 3.1 Now at Betalabs

You can catch the newest update of the Nokia Ovi Suite at Nokia Betalabs. Here are the exciting changes in the new beta which I will definitely download and check it out.

• Update both your phone and newest versions of your installed software in one go.
• Downloading apps, games, and more from Ovi Store is now even simpler. Now, the direct link to the app is sent to your phone. 
• Sync log view allows  you to see all the details that were added, updated or deleted and where each of these changes took place.
• Syncing with Microsoft Outlook has been improved with critical fixes.
• Connections Creating the connection between your device and computer is now more reliable.
• Sending text messages to groups is now possible. You can create contact groups in the Contacts view and easily send messages to all the members of a specific group in the Messaging view.
• Playing high-definition videos captured with your phone takes place in a more optimised and smooth way.
• Keeping track of your map downloads is easy. Click Downloads in the Maps view to view your download queue.

I am looking forward mostly to the improvements to the synchronising Nokia with Microsoft Outlook which should be an essential arrangement. Syncing usually scares people because of the potential to lose everything in one go. Hopefully this phobia has also been taken care of in this new update. 

Redefining Success E7 Competition

If you lined up 20 people from the street and asked them what they think success is, their answers will explain the colourful and fascinating world that we live in. Nokia's E7 that has recently been launched wants you to remember that "Success is what you make it", similar to the Nokia N8 promotion "Its not the technology, its what you do with it". Both approaches reflect the different people that use Nokias in very different ways to reach their goals and make it big in the way that only they know how.

So it is with great interest we will watch the development of the latest competition from Nokia which asks the world, how do you define success? E7 is not a measure of your success, it is the tool by which you reach success. Successful people don't rely on their phones to define success, but to achieve success. And with phones like the E7, you can see why we don't need 2 million apps. The E7 is for those looking to achieve success, not just pass time.

How do you define success? Leave a comment as I am personally very interested in how you all respond to this. However, don't forget to enter the competition which you can reach at www.youtube.com/nokia. There's a $10,000 carrot to keep you interested.

For a sample video, check out this video about a Nokia product designer in Hong Kong and see how he measures success in his life very differently to most of us.