New Batch of N96 Coming with Transformer Movie

I just heard that a New Batch of N96 with EU product codes are coming out with Transformer Movie built-in!

Might want to wait for it. Megan Fox is hawt ya know!

3 Points To Make Nokia SIND - Voice Tag Work More Effectively!

Both Nokia S40 and S60 devices uses what Nokia calls Speaker Independent Name Dialing or SIND for Voice Activated Dialing. What it does, is that instead of recording your own voice tag for each or some of your contacts (older S40 was limited to 10 voice tag only), the phone now assigns or generates the "voice tags" automatically. There is no need for you to record any voice tag, and you can not do it either even if you want it! In effect, now all of your Contacts has a "Voice Tag" generated by your phone, and this voice tag is exactly as how is your contact was written. Sort of err, "Verbatim", if I may use that for lack of better words.

Many people are a bit confused about this and others find SIND ineffective. Base on my experience there are some key things that you can use to make SIND work more effectively for you. By the way, this will apply to both S40 and S60 phones.

1) LET THE PHONE TEACH YOU
Listen as to how your phone's voice is pronouncing the built-in voice tags and try to mimic it. Try to do this with the contacts the you always call, say the top 10 or so. Your family members for sure, and so forth. I would say, depending on how much free time you have, listen as how your phone pronounce the names, the more the better.

2) TEACH THE PHONE
Do the voice dial as much as you can. The more that you do it, the more that your phone will also adapt to your voice. Yes, your phone will also try to adapt to your voice.

3) BE CAREFUL HOW YOU WRITE THE NAMES
If you have not noticed it, if you type the names in all capital letters, like "ABN-AMRO" your phone will pronounce this contacts by letter, as in "A", "B", and so forth. Your phone will pronounce it "A-B-N A-M-R-O" and it will not pronounce it as A-B-N- Amro. Hence, you can actually experiment on how you are writing the names but still the key is how the phone says it, and you must mimic it as must as you can.

Hope this helps, SIND might not be perfect, but once you got the hang of it, it will work! Like in Sports, the key is practice.

Leaked Nokia E-72 and E-75 Videos

no need for words, just watch...

Make Sony Ericsson Bluetooth Watch Work With S60 3rd Phones

There is a software that can make the Sony-Ericsson Bluetooth Watch MWB-100 and MWB-150 work with any S60 3rd Devices, and even better for those with FP1 and FP2.

Its is called SIC! BT Watch. The only minor down side is that it can only be downloaded via WAP-Push so you need to email. See the SIC! BT Watch Site Here.

SIC! BT-Watch have the following features:

• Mute incoming calls
• End incoming calls
• Signal incoming text message
• Show time and date electronically on the watch display
• The content of an incoming text message is shown on the watch-display and signalled via vibration. The text is scrolled automatically and can be read completely in this way.
• Subject headings of incoming e-mails are shown on the watch-display and signalled via vibration. Due to technical limitations this feature is limited to IMAP- and POP3-Accounts and NOT for MailForExchange.
• Calendar- and Clock-alerts are shown on the watch-display and signalled via vibration.
• Alerts can be disabled on the watch.

Music Control (AVRCP) via Bluetooth is also supported with S60 3rd FP1 and FP2 Devices...

It is very geeky indeed sporting these watches and making them work, unfortunately the watches are a bit expensive and both are huge and very heavy, and if you abhor anything with SE, then this is definitely not for you. Wait for Nokia to come up with their own watch... perhaps Nokir has some... hehehe

Nokia 6650 AT&T Branded (6650d-1bH RM-324)

The Nokia 6650 fold phone is a full fledged smart phone in a small, eye catching design. Featuring touch sensitive keys on the outside display, customizable illumination, and multi-tasking capabilities, the 6650 packages AT&T Navigator, music player with over-the-air download, Video Share, Cellular Video, and Push-To-Talk into a sleek contemporary design.

Well,NAM boys have something to play about soon... its about time you guys got some S60 goodies too...

Nokia E66 Review

And here I go again…

E-series Fresh New Look

Fresh from a user review of the Black E90, I jumped on the E66 like a hungry cat. Of course, thanks to WOM World for my demo units, otherwise I probably wont be able to enjoy doing this... hehehe...

I really believe that if the fascia of the Black E90 is like the E66, then it would have sold 2x or 3x more. This is E-series new standard or elegance. The E66 is like Gucci shoes that go together with your Lanvin suite. Or that Dunhill cufflink that goes with that Armani shirt. I could go on, but of course this does not mean this is only for those trim and proper businessmen in their expensive suits! Far from it! The E66 can be for anybody who fancied something elegant, but is not willing to pay for the price of a Scirocco 8800 phone or worse yet a Vertu.

Taking the super elegant Grey Steel E66-1 for a spin… and I think this is going to be a deliriously dangerous spin as heads might get chopped off due to the “Inverted Camera Syndrome” of E66 which my demo unit is suffering at the moment… and here are the unboxing photos. My demo unit is MIF (Made In Finland) and is the Grey Steel E66-1 RM-313 that sports a quad band GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz and WCDMA 900/2100. Here are some techno-porn unboxing pixs.









What's on the Box

Well, the usual stuff are the: stereo hands-free headset, a travel charger, USB connector and in this case more- a lanyard and the nice slip-in phone case.

Inverted Camera Syndrome

Inverted Camera Syndrome, what?!!! Apparently, many E66 units with software version 100.07.78 are suffering from this Inverted Camera Syndrome, and as the name implies, once you open the Camera application to shoot photos, the viewfinder display shows an inverted image and of course it shoots inverted image! And on top of that, the whole Camera application is slow as snail to open! It takes about 10 sec or for the camera to come up! Well, maybe I am a bit exaggerating or more like exasperated!

But, all is not lost, cause there are reports of some units that now sporting software with V. 102.xx.xx and in addition to that if you put your E66 (with V. 100.xx.xx) into offline or airplane mode, the Camera application works well. Hence, this is a software issue or heavens forbid a true factory defect issue! And to think, that I got an E66 Made in Finland, bah!

Just before publishing this, this syndrome got really worse, because now, even in offline mode the camera is still inverted, partly because of my undoing. I was playing with it, put my demo E66 to offline mode, and opening the camera, naturally the camera came in ok. Took some shots and then I decided, what if I put it back to the “General Profile” while the camera is still active. I thought to my self: "Will the camera remain in the correct position or will it revert back to the inverted position?". So, I decided to try it, because who knows? This might solved the whole problem, right? How wrong I was… now the camera is completely upside down all the time. I have actually delayed publishing the review in the hope that an update from NSU is nigh, but alas! It seems like it is as far as the horizon…


Nice and Spice and Other Goodies

If we can put aside the disappointing camera, which many of you are probably appalled by now, then the gloom starts to fade and everything looks like clear skies. And let us not forget that there is probably just a bad batch that came out with this Inverted Camera, none the less that is simply inexcusable and if you have an E66 that is suffering from this, you might well return it ASAP for a replacement.

As already mentioned the physical appearance is that of elegant business phone. And I mean really hot and elegant! The outer key as seen on the picture below which are the Shortcut Keys are completely blank when on standby, what symbols you see is just the Green Call Button which is as usual on the left, and on the right is the Hang-up or End Red Button.





The rest is hidden (the symbols of the keys), until the backlight reveals what is in there. This gives a very nice minimalist effect that adds to the elegance of the E66. Quite ingenious if I may, and kudos to the one who designed this!

The actual keypad that is hidden if the slider is close is somewhat similar to the keys of the E51 as you can see from the photo below. They are flat, but not ridiculous Razr flat. They are responsive, but not the same as those old rubbery, super responsive keypads that we used to have when many cell phones were still sporting those stubby antenna.




Another nice touch is the battery back-cover release latch or tabs shown below. These are small tab on both sides that looks like stereo speakers, I mean I wished they were stereo speakers, but are not and they simply serves as latches that opens up the stainless steel battery back cover upon pressing on it. It’s like popping up the hood of your car or bonnet to some other English speaking chaps!




And here is the stainless battery back cover with my palm as extra.




Once the device is in stanby, This nice huge digital clock will show once press the d-pad, again a very neat one...




This is another nice stanby screen




Other things to mention is that you need to remove the battery back cover to access the memory card, and beside it is the SIM Card Holder. You need to slide in the SIM card to affix it. The SIM card is a bit difficult to remove though, but that could just be my clumsy fingers.




Shortcut Keys Gallore

This is the Bluetooth Shortcut key. This Star [*] Key should become a default shortcut key for all Nokia with Bluetooth. I had been advocating this and have another thread somewhere here.




You can see the shortcut keys when lighted and it shows the Mail, Home or Menu Key (gone is the Yin-Yang symbol), Calendar and Contacts. I think the keys are very clear which one is which.




More Goodies in Details

And here is a rundown of the normal stuffs you will find with this baby that is probably does not require further ado:

• Quad-band EGSM support – same good RF from Nokia
• 3G with HSDPA 3.6Mbps – do note that there are 3 variants of the E66
• The Shortcut keys for Mail, Home or Menu, Calendar, Contacts
• Symbian 9.2 OS, S60 UI with FP1 with some FP2 like goodies
• 369 MHz ARM 11 CPU and 128 MB of SDRAM
• Wi-Fi , BT 2.0+EDR with A2DP, IR
• Built-in GPS receiver, A-GPS
• 3.2 megapixel auto focus camera with LED flash
• Accelerometer sensor for screen auto-rotation
• 110 MB of user memory, microSD expansion, comes with a 2GB card
• Standard 2.5mm audio jack
• Stainless steel casing and mirror like finish
• microUSB v2.0
• FM radio
• Good battery life (E71 is better though)
• Fantastic retail package
• Nokia Maps with 3 months free turn-by-turn navigation license

Click, click!!! I like the sound of that…

The slider is so much better than the N95. There is no wobble and it is really very solid. In general slider and flip phones will break more easily compared to candy bar phones, simply because anything with moving parts will break easily. However, there is something about sliding or folding action that gives you that certain satisfaction when you hear that click in opening to accept a call or ending a call. It’s akin to watching TV and you have your favorite beverage in your hand, and your feet are up on a foot-stool, or that satisfaction that you get when you just completed your lap around the corner, or you just made that jump shot over the 3-point line.

Yup! And that satisfaction level is so much better when you feel those sliding movement that just so reassuring that there is no wobble on it. Click! Click! Ah! I like the sound of that! And I could do this all day!


Top 5 Reasons why choose E66 over E71

I know most of the E-series fans are debating over these 2, and I will add fuel to the debate:

1. E66 feels more of a phone rather than a freak qwerty as-thin-as-a-wafer-sand-which phone.
2. E66 keypads are huge, compared to those micro-keys of E71.
3. E66 has very little learning curve- no need to learn E71-qwerty style.
4. E66 has a slightly bigger screen compared to E71.
5. E66 is more elegant than E71.

I could not come up with 10 that is why it is only 5, if you have anything to add to the list above, just PM me, will ya!


-- Thanks for reading--

Vertu Signature 3G

Vertu goes 3G... another one that can never be mine...

Vertu Signature is the Chairman’s phone – peerless, distinctive, with an effortless presence. The design and craftsmanship will position Vertu Signature alongside other iconic products in the luxury market. The innovative SIM drawer allows for easy interchange of a SIM card without the need to remove the battery. Vertu Signature is a WCDMA Dual mode dual band (2100/850 MHz) & GSM Quad band (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) phone. The phone has a high resolution QVGA OLED portrait display 320 x 240 pixels with 16 million colour display, WAP 2.0 XHTML browser support, E-mail support via SMTP/POP3/IMAP4 email client, Bluetooth and WLAN to support high speed browsing and VoIP.

The 01 Phone

This is very interesting phone and can be seen here. According to T3 it will have 5MP camera, built-in 32GB, a huge screen, and laser projection keyboard.

It is slated to be another iPhone killer, and I do hope so! :D

How to Change Your S60 Phones Software or Unbrand it Legitimately

Most of you know that if you get an S60 Nokia phone from a service provider or operator like AT&T, T-mobile, and hundreds of others out there, the phone that you get is "SIM-locked" (meaning it can only use a SIM card from the operator whom you got the phone) and chances are some of these S60 Nokia phones also have an Operator Branded Software in it, wherein sometimes or most of the time the operator will limit some functions of these phones or basically it is the provider that dictates what will be in the software. The software is NOT the same from what you normally find on standard generic unlocked sim-free S60 Nokia phone.

Most of you know that that there is way to be able to remove the operator branded software and get the generic S60 software. However, by doing this, your phone's warranty get invalidated and you are still SIM-locked, and basically this is not legal and there is also a chance that you brick your phone!

Now, I don't know how many of you knows this? But, to those who do not know, and would want to know the legitimate way to unbrand their S60 phones here are the simple, but somewhat not that easy steps:

1. Get a written consent from the operator who supplied you the phone that you can change the software.
2. Get the phone unlocked by the operator.
3. Together with this written consent, bring your now unlocked S60 phone to the nearest Official Nokia Care Point. NCP will change your phone's code and subsequently change your software to the standard generic Nokia S60 software. Also a new product ID label will be produced reflecting this change.

Of course, any legal or financial matters that you need to settle with your operator before they give you the unlock code and this consent paper is between you and your operator.

Sometimes doing the right thing is not easy, working honestly is also sometimes not easy, but we do it anyway, because we know it is the right way....
Anyway, I just want to share this and I hope this helps you unbranding your phone legitimately...

Why Can't We Have This On The E90?

What is it?

It is a dedicated Bluetooth Key! A long press on the [*] star key will turn-on the Bluetooth in your device.

This is available with E51. So why can't E90 have this as well? I know there is one in the inside, but then there is nothing wrong having this on the outside.

C'mon E90 Team, put this on the next firmare update!

Noki - Extract Data from Nokia PC Suite and Convert it to text, xls, cvs or html

Noki is a utility to explore and extract Phone book, SMS, Calendar, Memo, Bookmark
and other user files from the backup file of Nokia phone (using Nokia PC Suite).

The Noki-extracted info can be saved in text, Excel .xls, .csv or Html
file which is much accessible than the original binary format (.nfc, .nfb or
.nbu). Other files extracted (3gp, image, photo, mp3, mp4 etc) will remain their
original format.

The above phrase is taken from the site, and I have tested Noki with the latest Nokia PC Suite 7 and a backup from N82 and it is working quite well...

Who needs this? Well, let us say you are a businessman and you have about 1,000+ contacts and hundreds of notes tuck away on your E90 and naturally you make a backup. Now Nokia PC Suite V. 7.07.0 just came out and you naturally upgraded to it, and then you decided to update your E90's software. Now, everything work, but when you try to restore your data, Nokia PC Suite now does not recognize your E90, or worse, you cant make Nokia PC Suite to work! This is the time you will need this app...

I will do more testing though, but so far it is fast and works well... this is certainly for those having problems with their Nokia PC Suite installations and with those precious business data that you do not want to loose...

NOTE: the download on the Noki site does not work, click on the Softpedia link on the site to be able to get to the correct download site...

TAT Kastor UI for S60

Today TAT (The Astonishing Tribe) annouced that S60 will use their highly fancied Kastor UI, confirming rumors that has been circulating for almost the past 2 months... I am quoting directly from the news report form TAT.

July 7, 2008

S60 has chosen TAT

TAT’s technology enables S60 developers to push UI boundaries to even greater heights. Developers can now easily add advanced graphics such as 3D, change effects and also add skins without having to change existing software or add expensive hardware.

TAT Kastor, the next generation UI rendering platform, is now available on the S60 mobile platform. The benefits from TAT Kastor address the need to render advanced graphics on any type of color screens. This allows handset vendors to offer devices with sophisticated and graphically animated user interfaces, without major changes to the software or need for advanced hardware. By pushing graphics to advanced screens more efficiently than traditional software, TAT Kastor on the S60 mobile platform makes the user interface look more advanced than the hardware normally would allow. And importantly, it does so without extensive changes to existing software.

News Source-> TAT News

The only question now, is when, where and how are we going to have this in our existing S60 devices?